Phew. I’m coming up to breathe after submersion in training modules and orientation for a new job. I’ll be working part-time as a hospice chaplain—more reflections to come on this experience no doubt. I miss you and hope to be back a bit more regularly soon at this intersection between God and life.

In the meantime, this short inspirational story originally published in The San Francisco Times about two brothers who have bonded over racing triathlons and are Sports Illustrated “Sports Kids of the Year” is worth a view. It comes in the context of my own efforts to teach my son—after a hard-fought championship game on the basketball court lost in the final seconds of overtime—about what it means to lose gracefully. In the wake of a second place finish in a speech contest, Malala in her book recounts the words of Abe Lincoln to his son’s teacher: “Teach him to lose gracefully,” Lincoln instructed. In the case of this nine-year-old boy and his younger brother with cerebral palsy, winning and losing come measured in different terms…a bit like the kingdom of God I guess.